Full of beans - coffee grounds to help power London's buses

Adela's Take

What it's about:

Waste coffee grounds will be used to help fuel some of London’s iconic red buses, Royal Dutch Shell and clean technology company Bio-Bean announced recently.

A new biofuel, which contains part coffee oil, is being added to the London bus fuel supply chain where it can be used without the need for modification, the companies said in a statement.

Bio-Bean and partner Argent Energy have so far produced enough coffee oil to power one bus for a year, if used as a pure-blend for the 20 percent bio component and mixed with mineral diesel to form a B20 fuel, they said.

Why it's noteworthy:

Transport for London has been turning to biofuels to curb carbon emissions, trialling another fuel made with used cooking oil from the catering industry, the transport operator said on its website.

Bio-Bean said the average Londoner drinks 2.3 cups of coffee a day, producing over 200,000 tonnes of waste a year. It collects waste grounds from high-street chains and factories, which are dried and processed to extract coffee oil.